# MAL-2026-17222: Malicious code in vite-plugin-crypto (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `vite-plugin-crypto` (npm)
- **Published:** 28 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mh9w-qr45-6wrq

## What is MAL-2026-17222?

MAL-2026-17222 is a malicious package in vite-plugin-crypto, published on 28 Sep 2026. 

### Official description

vite-plugin-crypto@1.0.2 exposes a Vite plugin factory whose body concatenates three option fields — `secret`, `salt`, and `iv` — into a single string and passes it to `System.import(...)` from the `systemjs` runtime module loader, discarding the returned promise with `.then(() => {})`. Only `secret` is used by the advertised AES-GCM `encrypt()` path; `salt` and `iv` are declared on the options type but are absent from the documented options table and are unused by the real crypto code (which generates its own random salt/IV per call). The concatenated string is treated as a module specifier by SystemJS, which resolves URLs and executes fetched JavaScript, so whoever controls these option values obtains arbitrary JavaScript execution on the Vite build/dev host each time the config is loaded. Pulling in a browser-oriented dynamic module loader as the package's only runtime dependency, naming the concatenated input `derivedSecret`, and swallowing the promise frame the remote-loader call as a benign key-derivation step. Base64 decoding in dist/index.cjs and dist/index.js is used within the AES-GCM helper. The trigger fires at plugin construction during `vite build` / `vite dev`.

Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-17222?

Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
MAL-2026-17222 is a malicious package: vite-plugin-crypto (npm). Every version was published to cause harm.

Task:
1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.
2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.
3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.
4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17222/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17222/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-17222

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17222/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.